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Bridget Blake has never been one to run without confidence.
But even she admits that her time at last year’s Class 4A state championship was a bit of a surprise. She was hoping for a good finish, but she stayed with the pack and picked up a second-place, just 17 seconds behind champion Shelby Hayes of Winter Park. Blake finished a comfortable second, four seconds ahead of the third-place finisher, but this year it is Blake that has the bullseye on her back
Blake ran for Orlando Freedom High last year before transferring to Dr. Phillips where she gets to compete in practice every day with another state title contender, Dana Demsky. Demsky finished 10 seconds behind Blake at the Class 4A-Region 2 finals last week at Lake Park in Tampa, a long, meandering run that gave way to some slow paces, but Blake is well-familiar with the course at Dade City where the state championships will be held at Little Everglades Ranch.
She said that, even though she is a sophomore at Dr. Phillips, she is going after the title this weekend, hopefully the first of several before she graduates. Even as she is about to enter the race as favorite this year, she can't help but reflect on her freshman shocker this time last year when she was just trying to put up a good time.
“I wasn’t even supposed to be close,’’ Blake said. “I don’t know where it came from. I started just trying to stay close and then I realized no one else was close so I figured I would try to break away and no one else did. Shelby kept ahead but I was all by myself and just kept going. I have no idea where it came from.’’
Blake may have thought she snuck up on the pack last year as a freshman, but this year is different. Hayes has graduated and is attending the University of Florida, which may put Blake into the driver’s seat for a state championship at Dade City. She knows she is among the favorites and she made a name for herself at the flrunners.com Invitational's Race of Champions last month with a 17:45 second place finish the plurality of the state's best girls. She said she is dead set on winning states not just this year, but for her junior and senior years as well.
Blake started running in second grade and picked up the pace throughout her middle school years. She always ran outdoor and cross country and never stopped running. She has put up personal bests of 5:05 in the mile, 11:09 in the 2-mile and also runs the 800. She’s hoping to improve on her 2-mile run and plans to start on that a couple of weeks after the cross country season is finished.
“I don’t know what to work on, but I know my 2-mile has to get better," Blake said.
It’s a long season for Blake. She spent time in Colorado at the famed camp in Crested Butte this summer preparing for the cross country season, working in the high altitudes, preparing for this season. She had Dade City in mind while running through the woods in Colorado.
"I am ready for Dade City," Blake said. "It’s grassy and I am familiar with it and I know I can do it. I trained for it all summer, so it fits me well."
The confidence is there, the course is one with which she is familiar, so Blake is ready as a sophomore to start on a run that may just cover the next three years.
